offer some of their own solutions. how much do you think that will move the ball forward? >> depends on what they do. if they actually move in a significant way toward either of the priorities that have been talked about, one is the assault weapons ban, second is the ban on those high-capacity magazine ammunition clips, the third is the closing of the gun show loophole. they've resisted all those steps in the past. republicans have been quite responsive. democrats chastened, as i mentioned. so we'll see whether they take any of those steps. that would have a big impact if they did. >> all right. as we said, less than two minutes until the president speaks. john, i know you'll stay there. in the meantime, we hand it over to "fast money halftime." they'll send it to the president when he speaks. all right, carl. thanks so much. welcome to the halftime report. the president is going to be speaking momentarily on gun control. we'll take you to the white

house live for mr. obama's comments in a moment. they've already given the two-minute warning. should be happening within a minute or so. we'll look at the major averages. the markets are fighting for direction right now as we wait for the president to make his comments today. you can see the dow is under a little bit of pressure along with the s&p 500. nasdaq is positive today as well. here's what we're following on halftime. the great rotation, if investors keep bailing on bonds, how high could the stock market go? debated as fedex earnings are reported. two traders, two very different opinions in a halftime battle. first, our top story. opportunity knocks with stocks sitting at two-month highs. where's the best place to put your money right now? the traders for the hour, pete and john. that's where we'll again. let's also keep in mind we're waiting on the president to make these comments on gun control from the white house. in fact, let's go there right

now. >> it's not been five days since the heartbreaking tragedy in newtown, connecticut. three days since we gathered as a nation to pray for the victims. today a few more of the 20 small children and six educators who were taken from us will be laid to rest. we may never know all the reasons why this tragedy happened. we do know that every day since more americans have died of gun violence. we know such violence has terrible consequences for a society. if there's even one thing that we can do to prevent any of these events, we have a deep obligation, all of us, to try. over these past five days, a discussion has reemerged as to what we might do not only to deter mass shootings in the future, but to reduce the epidemic of gun violence that plagues this country every single day.

and it's encouraging that people of all different backgrounds and believes and political persuasions have been willing to challenge some old assumptions and change long-standing positions. that conversation has to continue. but this time the words need to lead to action. we know this is a complex issue that stirs deeply held passions and political divides. as i said on sunday night, there's no law or set of laws that can prevent every senseless act of violence in our society. we're going to need to work on making access to mental health care at least as easy as access to a gun. we're going to need to look more closely at a culture that all too often glorifies guns and violence, and any actions we must take must begin inside the home and inside our hearts. but the fact that this problem is complex can no longer be an

excuse for doing nothing. the fact that we can't prevent every act of violence doesn't mean we can't steadily reduce the violence and prevent the very worst violence. that's why i've asked the vice president to lead an effort that includes members of my cabinet and outside organizations to come up with a set of concrete proposals no later than january, proposals that i then intend to push without delay. this is not some washington commission. this is not something where folks are going to be studying the issue for six months and publishing a report that gets read and then pushed aside. this is a team that has a very specific task, to pull together real reforms right now. i asked joe to lead this effort in part because he wrote the 1994 crime bill that helped law

enforcement bring down the rate of violent crime in this country. that plan, that bill also included the assault weapons ban that was publicly supported at the time by former presidents, including ronald reagan. the good news is there's already a growing consensus for us to build from. a majority of americans support banning the sale of military-style assault weapons. a majority of americans support banning the sale of high-capacity ammunition clips. a majority of americans support laws requiring background checks before all gun purchases so that criminals can't take advantage of legal loopholes to buy a gun from somebody who won't take the responsibility of doing a background check at all. i urge the new congress to hold votes on these measures next year in a timely manner. and considering congress hasn't confirmed a director of the bureau of alcohol, tobacco, and

firearms in six years, the agency that works most closely with state and local law enforcement to keep illegal guns out of the hands of criminals, i'd suggest they make this a priority early in the year. look, like the majority of americans, i believe that the second amendment guarantees an individual right to bear arms. this country has a strong tradition of gun ownership that's been handed down from generation to generation. obviously, across the country there are regional differences. there are differences between how people feel in urban areas and rural areas. the fact is, the vast majority of gun owners in america are responsible. they buy their guns it legally, and they use them safely, whether for hunting or sport shooting, collection, or protection. but, you know what? i am also betting that the majority, the vast majority of responsible law-abiding gun

owners would be some of the first to say that we should be able to keep an irresponsible, law breaking few from buying a weapon of war. i'm willing to bet they don't think that using a gun and using common sense are incompatible ideas. that an unbalanced man shouldn't be able to get his hands on a military-style assault rifle so easily. that in this age of technology, we should be able to check someone's criminal records before he or she can check out at a gun show. that if we work harder to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people, there would be fewer atrocities like the one in newtown or any of the lesser known tragedies that visit small towns and big cities all across america every day. since friday morning a police officer was gunned down in memphis, leaving four children without their mother. two officers were killed outside a grocery store in topeka.

a woman was shot and killed inside a las vegas casino. three people were shot inside an alabama hospital. a 4-year-old was caught in a drive by in missouri and taken off life support just yesterday. each one of these americans was a victim of the every day gun violence that takes the lives of more than 10,000 americans every year. violence that we cannot accept as routine. so i will use all the powers of this office to help advance efforts aimed at prevents more tragedies like this. we won't prevent them all, but that can't be an excuse not to try. it won't be easy, but that can't be an excuse not to try. and i'm not going to be able to do it by myself. ultimately, if this effort is to succeed, it's going to require the help of the american people.

it's going to require all of you. if we're going to change things, it's going to take a wave of americans, mothers and fathers, daughters and sons, pastors, law enforcement, mental health professionals, and, yes, gun owners standing up and saying, enough on behalf of our kids. it will take commitment and compromise, and most of all it will take courage. if those of us who were sent here to serve the public trust can summon even one tiny iota of the courage those teachers, that principal in newtown summoned on friday, if cooperation and common sense prevail, then i'm convinced we can make a sensible, intelligent way to make the united states of america a safer, stronger place for our children to learn and to grow. thank you. now i'm going to let the vice president go and take a few

questions. i will start with ben feller. >> thank you, mr. president. i'd like to ask you about the other serious issue in this town right now, the fiscal cliff. haven't you betrayed some of the voters who supported you in the election by changing your positions on who should get a tax increase and by including social security benefits now into this mix, and more broadly, there seems to be a deepening sense that negotiations aren't going very well right now. can you give us a candid update? are we likely to go over the cliff? >> well, first of all, there's no reason why we should. remember when i said during the campaign, i thought that it was important for us to reduce our deficit in a balanced and responsible way. i said it was important for us to make sure that millionaires and billionaires paid their fair share. i said that we were going to have to make some tough cuts,

some tough decisions on the spending side, but what i wouldn't do was hurt vulnerable families only to pay for a tax cut for somebody like me. ment what i said was that the ultimate package would involve a balance of spending cuts and tax increases. that's exactly what i've put forward. what i've said is that in order to arrive at a compromise, i am prepared to do some very tough things. some things that some democrats don't want to see and probably there are few republicans who don't want to see either. but the only way that we're going to be able to stabilize the economy, make sure we've got a platform for long-term economic growth, that we get our deficits under control, and we make sure that middle class families are protected is if we come up with something that

members of both parties in congress can support. and that's the plan that i've put forward. i have gone at least halfway in meeting some of the republicans' concerns, recognizing that even though we campaigned on these issues, even though the majority of americans agree with me that we should be raising taxes on the wealthiest few as a means of reducing the deficit, i have also said that i'm willing to identify some spending cuts that make sense. and, you know, frankly, up until about a couple days ago, if you looked at it, the republicans in the house and speaker boehner, i think, were in a position to say we've gotten a fair deal. the fact that they haven't taken it yet is puzzling. i think, you know, a question you're going to have to address to them. i remain optimistic, though,

because if you look at what the speaker has proposed, he's conceded that income tax rates should go up, except right now he only wants to have them go up for millionaires. if you're making $900,000, somehow he thinks you can't afford to pay more in taxes. but the principle that rates are going to need to go up, he's conceded. i've said i'm willing to make some cuts. what separates us is probably a few hundred billion dollars. the idea that we would put our economy at risk because you can't bridge that gap doesn't make a lot of sense. so i'm going to continue to talk to the speaker and other leaders in congress. ultimately, they've got to do their job. right now their job is to make sure that middle class taxes do not go up and that we have a balanced, responsible package of deficit reduction.

it is there for all to see. it is a deal that can get done. but it is not going to be -- it cannot be done if every side wants 100% and part of what voters were looking for is some compromise up here. that's what folks want. they understand that they're not going to get 100% of what they want. for some reason, that message has not yet taken up on capitol hill. when you think about what we've gone through over the last couple of months, a devastating hurricane and now one of the worst tragedies in our memory, the country deserves folks to be willing to compromise on behalf of the greater good and not tangle themselves up in a whole bunch of ideological positions

that don't make much sense. so i remain not only open to conversations, but i remain eager to get something done. i'd like to get it done before christmas. there's been a lot of posturing up on capitol hill instead of going ahead and getting stuff done. we've been wasting a lot of time. it is the right thing to do. i'm prepared to get it done. but, you know, they're going to have to go ahead and make some adjustments. and i'll just give you one other example. the speaker now is proposing what he calls plan b. he says, well, this would raise taxes only on folks making $1 million or more. what that means on average of a $50,000 tax break for every millionaire out there. at the same time, we're not providing unemployment insurance for 2 million people who are still out there looking for work.

it actually means a tax increase for millions of working families across the country at the same time as folks like me who would be getting a tax break. that violates the core principles that were debated during the course of this election and that the american people determined was the wrong way to go. so my hope is that the speaker and his caucus in conjunction with the other legislative leaders out there can find a way to make sure that middle class families don't see their taxes go up on january 1st, that we make sure that those things that middle class families count on, like tax credits for college or making sure that they're getting some help when it comes to raising their kids through the things like the child tax credit, that that gets done and we have a balanced package for deficit reduction, which is

exactly what i've put forward. >> will you give more ground if you need to, or are you done? >> if you look at the package that i've put forward, it is a balanced package by any definition. we have put forward real cuts in spending that are hard to do. in every category. by any measure, by any traditional calculation, by the measures that republicans themselves have used in the past, this would be. a -- as large a piece of deficit reduction as we've seen in the last 20 years. and if you combine that with the increased revenue from the wealthy paying a little bit more, then you actually have something that would stabilize our deficit and debt for a decade. for ten years. now, the notion that we would not do that, but instead the

speaker would run a play that keeps tax cuts for folks making 500 or 700 or $800,000 a year and gives more tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires and raises taxes on middle class families and then has no cuts in it, which is what he says he wants, doesn't make much sense. i mean p let's just think about the logic for a second. they're thinking about voting for raising taxes, at least on folks over $1 million, which they say they don't want to do. but they're going to reject spending cuts that they say they do want to do. that defied logic. there's no explanation for that. i think that any objective person out there looking would

say that, you know, we put forward a very balanced plan, and it's time for us to get it done. that's what the country needs right now. i think, you know, folks have been through some wrenching times. we're still recovering from a very tough recession. what they're hoping for is a sense of stability, focus, compromise, common sense, over the next couple of years. i think we can provide it, but this is a good test for it. okay? carol lee. there you are. >> just to follow on ben's question, what is your next move? are we just in a position where you're waiting for the speaker to make a move? >> i'm going to reach out to all the leaders involved over the next couple of days and find out what is it that's holding this thing up. what is holding it up? if the argument from republicans

is we haven't done enough spending cuts, that argument is not going to fly because we've got close to $1 trillion of spending cuts. and when you add interest, then it's more than $1 trillion in spending cuts. if the argument is that they can't do -- they can't increase tax rates on folks making $700,000 or $800,000 a year, that's not a persuasive argument to me, and it's certainly not a persuasive argument to the american people. you know, it may be that members of their caucus haven't looked at exactly what we've proposed. it may be that if we provide more information or there's greater specificity or we've worked through some of their concerns, that we can get some movement there. but, you know, the fact of the

matter is that what would violate my commitment to voters is if i ended up agreeing to a plan that put more of the burden on middle class families and less of a bird on the wealthy in an effort to reduce our deficit. that's not something i'm going to do. what would violate my commitment to voters would be to put forward a plan that makes it harder for young people to go to college, that makes it harder for a family with a disabled kid to care for that kid. there's a threshold that you reach where the balance tips, even in making compromises that are required to get something done in this town where you are hurting people in order to give another advantage to folks who don't need help. we had an extensive debate about this for a year. not only does the majority of

the american people agree with me, about half of republican voters agree with me on this. so, you know, at some point, there's got to be, i think, a recognition on the part of my republican friends that, you know, take the deal. they will be able to claim that they have worked with me over the last two years to reduce the deficit more than any other deficit reduction package. that we will have stabilized it for ten years. that's a significant achievement for them. they should be proud of it. but they keep on finding ways to say no as opposed to finding ways to say yes. i don't know how much of that just has to do with, you know, it is very hard for them to say yes to me.

but, you know, at some point, you know, they've got to take me out of it and think about their voters and think about what's best for the country. and if they do that, if they're not worried about who's winning and who's losing, you know, did they score a point on the president, did they extract that last little concession, did they, you know, force him to do something he really doesn't want to do just for the heck of it, and they focus on actually what's good for the country, i think we can get this done. >> you mentioned the $700,000, $800,000, are you willing to move on income level? are there specific things -- >> i'm not going to get into specific negotiations. my point is, carol, that if you look at speaker boehner's proposal and my proposal, they're actually pretty close. they keep on saying that somehow

we haven't put forward real spending cuts. actually, you know, there was a graph in "the new york times" today that showed -- they're the same categories, right? a few tweaks here and there, a few differences. we're right there. on the revenue side, there's a difference in terms of them wanting to preserve tax breaks for folks between 250 and a million that we can't afford. i mean, keep in mind i'm in that income category. i'd love to, you know, not pay as much in taxes, but i also think it's the right thing to do for us to make sure that people who have less, people who are working, people who are striving, people who, you know, are hoping for their kids, that they have opportunity. that's what we campaigned about. that's what we talked about. this is not a situation where i'm, you know, unwilling to

compromise. this is not a situation where i'm trying to, you know, rub their face in anything. i think anybody who looks at this objectively would say that coming off my election, i have met them at least halfway in order to get something done for the country. i noticed there were a couple headlines out there saying, you know, we're now in the land of political posturing. it's the usual he said/he said atmosphe atmosphere. but look at the facts. look at where we started. look at where they started. my proposal is right there in the middle. we should be able to get this done. let's get it done. we don't have a lot of time. kerry. there you are. >> thank you, mr. president. >> yeah. >> what is your level of confidence that if you are able to reach a comprehensive deal with the speaker that he will be

able to bring his members on board and get it passed? essentially, do you still trust speaker boehner in this process? >> there is no doubt that, you know, the speaker has challenges in his caucus. i recognize that. i'm often reminded when i speak to the republican leadership that the majority of their caucus' membership come from districts that i lost. so sometimes they may not see an incentive in cooperating with me in part because they're more concerned about challenges from a tea party candidate or challenges from the right and cooperating with me may make them vulnerable. you know, i recognize that.

but goodness, if this past week has done anything, it should just give us some perspective. if there's one thing we should have after this week, it should be a sense of perspective about what's important. and, you know, i would like to think that members of that caucus would say to themselves, you know what, we disagree with the president on a whole bunch of things, we wish the other guy had won, we're going to fight him on a whole range of issues over the next four years, we think his philosophy is all screwed up, but right now what the country needs is for us to compromise and get a deficit reduction deal in place, make sure middle class taxes don't go

up, make sure we're laying the foundations for growth, give certainty to businesses large and small, not put ourselves through some sort of self-inflicted crisis every six months, allow ourselves time to focus on things like preventing the tragedy in newtown from happening again, focus on issues like energy and immigration reform and all the things that will make a determination as to whether our country grows over the next four years, ten years, 40 years. if you just pull back from the immediate, you know, political battles, if you kind of peel off the partisan war paint, then we should be able to get something done. and, you know, i think the speaker would like to get that

done. i think an environment needs to be created within not just the house republican caucus but also among senate republicans that say the campaign is over and let's see if we can do what's right for the country, at least for the next month. then, you know, we can reengage in all the other battles that they'll want to fight. >> if you don't get it done, republicans have said they'll try to use the debt limit as the next pressure point. would you negotiate with them in that context? >> no, and i've been very clear about this. this is the united states of america. the greatest country on earth, the world's economic superpower. the idea that we lurch from crisis to crisis and every six months or every nine months that we threaten not to pay our bills

on stuff we've already bought and default and ruin the full faith and credit of the united states of america. that's not how you run a great country. so i've put forward a very clear principle. i will not negotiate around the debt ceiling. we're not going to play the same game we saw happen in 2011, which was hugely destructive. hurt our economy. provided more uncertainty to the business community than anything else that happened. you know, i'm not alone in this. you know, if you go to wall street, including talking to a whole bunch of folks spending a lot of money trying to beat me, they would say it would be disastrous for us to use the

debt ceiling as a way to try to win political points on capitol hill. so we're not going to do that. which is why i think that, you know, part of what i hope over the next couple days we see is a recognition that there is a way to go ahead and get what it is that you've been fighting for. these guys have been fighting for spending cuts. they can get some very meaningful spending cuts. this would amount to $2 trillion in spending cuts over the last couple of years. and fin exchange, they're gettig a little over $1 trillion in revenue. and that meets the pledge that i made during the campaign, which was, you know, $2 to $2.50 of

spe spending cuts for every revenue increase. i will not negotiate around the debt ceiling. we're not going to do that again. i've got david jackson. >> thank you, mr. president. getting back to the gun issue, you alluded to the fact that they don't have the greatest reputation in the world. what makes you think this would be any different given the passage of time and groups like the national rifle association? >> this is not going to be a commission. joe is going to gather up some key cabinet members who have an interest in this issue. we're going to reach out to a bunch of stake holders. we're going to be reaching out to members of congress who have an interest in this issue. it's not as if we have to start from scratch. there are a whole bunch of proposals that have been thought about, debated, but hopefully

also some new ideas in terms of how we deal with this issue. their task is going to be to, you know, sift through every good idea that's out there and even take a look at some bad ideas before disposing of them and come up with a concrete set of recommendations in about a month. i would hope that our memories aren't so short that what arewew in newtown isn't lingering with us, that we don't remain passionate about it only a month later. as soon as we get those recommendations, i'll be putting forward very specific proposals. i will be talking about them in my state of the union, and we will be working with interested members of congress to try to get something done.

you know, the idea that we would say this is terrible, this is a tragedy, never again, and we don't have the sustained attention span to be able to get this done over the next several months doesn't make sense. i have more confidence in the american people than that. i have more confidence in the parents, the mothers and fathers that i've been meeting over the last several days all across the country from all political persuasions, including a lot of gun owners who say, you know what, this time we've got to do things differently. >> what about the nra? >> well, the nra is an organization that has members who are mothers and fathers. i would expect that they've been impacted by this as well. hopefully they'll do some self-reflection. here's what we know.

any single gun law can't solve all these problems. we're going to have to look at mental health issues, we're going to have to look at schools. there are going to be a whole range of things that joe's group looks at. we know that issues of gun safety will be an element. and, you know, what we've seen over the last 20 years, 15 years is this sense that anything related to guns is somehow an encroachment on the second amendment. what we're looking for here is a thoughtful approach that says we can preserve our second amendment, we can make sure that responsible gun owners are able to carry out their activities, but that we're going to actually be serious about the safety side of this. that we're going to be serious about making sure that something

like newtown or aurora doesn't happen again. there's a big chunk of space between what, you know, the second amendment means and having no rules at all. that space is what joe is going to be working on to try to identify where we can find some common ground. i've got -- i'm going to take one last question. go ahead. >> it seems to a lot of observers that you made the political calculation in 2008 in your first term and in 2012 not to talk about gun violence. you had your position on renewing the ban on semiautomatic rifles that then senator biden put into place. but you didn't do much about it. this is not the first issue, the first incident of horrific gun

violence of your four years. where have you been? >> well, here's where i've been, jake. i've been president of the united states dealing with the worst economic crisis since the great depression. an auto industry on the verge of collapse. two wars. i don't think i've been on vacation. so, you know, i think all of us have to do some reflection on how we prioritize what we do here in washington. as i said on sunday, you know, this should be a wake-up call for all of us to say that if we are not getting right the need to keep our children safe, then nothing else matters. and it's my commitment to make sure that we do everything we can to keep our children safe. a lot of things are involved in that, jake.

making sure they have decent health care and making sure they have a good education, making sure that their parents have jobs. those are all relevant as well. those aren't just sort of side issues. but there's no doubt that this has to be a central issue. that's exactly why i'm confident that joe is going to take this so seriously over the next couple months. all right. thank you, everybody. >> all right. what began with a statement about gun and what can be done to curb what the president calls himself an epidemic of gun violence in this country turns mainly to the fiscal cliff towards the end there. the president giving an update on negotiations. let's go right down to washington, d.c. and our own john harwood. john, to the fiscal cliff first. the president says there's no reason why we should go over the cliff, that we're only a few hundred billion dollars apart. what's the next step in trying to bridge that gap? >> well, there are private negotiations going on, scott, at the staff level. i think we're going to see how speaker boehner can play out

this plan b, whether he can, in fact, pass it in the house. republicans as well as democrats have some issues with it, especially the republicans who don't want tax increases on anybody. but i think this was a fascinating moment because you saw the president not only proposing steps that he's going to take with joe biden vowing to put him in the state of the union address on gun violence, mental health, and all the related issues around there, but also leveraging the mood of post-newtown, to try to put pressure on the congress and say, we need to take off the partisan war paint just for a little while, do this for the country. there's one thing that we should have learned after the tragedy in connecticut. it's that we have to keep our perspective. so you saw him, now that he's been re-elected, riding high on public opinion, republicans are on the defensive, he's trying to press that advantage and get republicans to come to himment on this issue of fiscal cliff and the debt limit. >> and clearly he's feeling a sen

sense of urgency on the issue of gun control. >> no question about it. it's a sense of urgency he didn't feel earlier in his administration. he said we all need to do a period of reflection. it's clear this tragedy caused the president to look in the mirror and say i haven't been doing enough, that's going to change now. >> john, thanks so much. on the other side of this quick break, we'll get back to covering the markets. major averages with modest losses at this hour. back in a couple minutes. r ] citi turns 200 this year. so why exactly should that be of any interest to you? well, in that time there've been some good days. and some difficult ones. but, through it all, we've persevered, supporting some of the biggest ideas in modern history. like the transatlantic cable that connected continents. and the panama canal that made our world a smaller place. we supported the marshall plan that helped europe regain its strength. and pioneered the atm, so you can get cash when you want it.

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welcome back. it's been a somewhat muted session for stocks thus far. we're basically hugging the flat line on the nasdaq and the s&p's down a couple points. dow is good for about 11. anything but muted, though, the last couple days. the dow putting together back-to-back triple-digit gains. the market trying to sniff out any kind of fiscal cliff deal as we head towards the ends of the year. what are you doing? >> well, i continue to be in the banks. i continue to think that's the area that's going to really react best when you're talking about fiscal cliff. i think the encouraging part i took away from the president speaking and addressing some of the fiscal cliff questions was the fact that he said, look, we are going to start working closer together and we're very close. the fact that they're very close says a lot to me me. i think the spending and revenues, if we can get those though match closer, we have at least partially some kind of a deal. that's why i continue to like these banks. i think they're going to react well. you can see during the day, the last couple hours, that big reversal in the housing stocks as well. across the board, a nice

reversal there. you're talking about the subset. you have the financials, the housing. i think i like what i'm seeing in the market right now. i continue to be bullish. >> josh, you get the feeling that the market definitely wants to go higher. we're going to start the show with the theme of opportunity knocks. where do you see the best opportunity in the market right now? we've got a couple weeks left to go before the end of the year. >> so i think if you want to be a little bit more aggressive, you could look for stocks that are below their 200-day moving average, what we would call broken stocks that have the chance to play catchup as the sellers, the tax sellers are pretty much done at this point. if you wanted to be more conservative, i have to stick with the big theme that i think plays out for the next couple years, which is health care. many of these names have not moved nearly as much as the index itself. so i would be looking at large-cap pharma. >> does that mean now it's safe to go into apple? >> it's a lot closer to be safe now than it was. we know that we're going to see a capital gains increase, and

that, according to jim cramer and me and perhaps many of you at the desk, is partially responsible for stocks like apple being hit. >> certainly not as bad as some people feared, that cap gains and dividend taxes would go up to. we're not going up to 40%. >> we're hearing 20. >> it's not a world ending thing. so that's definitely something that changes people's perception. >> that satakes you off the sel button a little and let's you see what the numbers are in january. >> ennis, what do you see? >> the most constructive thing is it's much more of a micromarket than a macromarket. we saw fedex and oracle reflect that today. >> we're going to check in with brian sullivan with a market flash. >> i want to watch oracle. oracle quietly keeps going up, up, and up. up over 30% on the year. the company coming out and beating the street by three cents a share. you had sales up. you had revenue up.

operating cash flow higher. this company is pulling in about $13.5 billion for operating cash flow. larry ellison keeps buying malibu mansions. he has more money to do that now. i just want to say, this has been your best show by far. this has been a spectacular "fast money." >> fewest words but best show. thanks so much. >> brian, he's buying hawaii. he's not just buying malibu. >> first of all, he only bought 98%. >> i meant the state. all of those islands comprise the state of hawaii. i don't know if they taught you that in west virginia. >> let's get to the matter at hand, seriously. oracle, is it too late to get in? >> no. >> the stock's had this good run. >> we had that yesterday as you had steven weiss and murph debating it. i said weiss was right. i still believe he's right. i think a lot of the delayed orders,ing in particular the server space that are going to benefit apple, or rather oracle, hit in 2013 much more

aggressively because the pause button is off. >> let's hit the biggest pops and drops. >> delphi being added to the big index. i got to say, this is one of the most successful reemergences from chapter 11 organization. already 35. it looks like the business is in great shape. auto parts, transmissions, things of that nature. >> ennis, what do you sea in seadaese seagate? >> it's been a volatile name. back up to 30. 5.5% dividend. very cheap name, but it might be a value trap. >> doc, gdi. that's gardner denver. >> they're finally getting things done on the -- at least they'd hope to get some things done here, scott. it's not going as well as they'd hoped, though. that's why the stock is reacting like this. >> pete, phillips 66. >> love this name.

some of the crack spreads may be affecting this a little. i think it's a great opportunity. i like that and any of the chemicals related to the petroleum space. >> all right. a pop for cheap airfare. hate all those extra airline fees? one traveler is taking stinginess to new heights. a frugal flyer at a chinese airport reportedly wore 70 items of clothing it, including 60 shirts and nine pairs of jeans, to avoid paying an extra charge for heavy luggage. it seemed like a great plan until the man set off a metal detector and had to undergo a full body search. probably took forever since he had to take off all those clothes. coming up, so you think housing has turned, right? not so fast, according to robert shiler. you will hear directly from the housing expert when we come back on "halftime." customer erin swenson bought from us online today.

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welcome back. fedex's profit dropping less than feared, and that's enough to sends the stock higher today. but should you buy into today's rally or bail? ennis thinks there may be head winds. let's debate it. the stock is up today. investors seem to like what happened today. >> no doubt about it. it was actually a good report. i actually liked their earnings report today. my concern is the six to nine-month outlook. going forward, they have margin compression. operating margins were much lower than in the past year. they blended a lot of things. pension costs, fuel costs, sandy. as my grade schoolteacher used to say, excuses are like -- and everybody has one. >> i had to roll up my sleeves to go after ennis. people have been pinching pennies. that's why fedex got hurt. they went to the ground shipping, which is cheaper. >> express was down. >> right. now i think express comes back because you've got europe, perhaps, working its way out of

the recession. u.s. not falling off the fiscal cliff. so if i'm right, ennis, i think those are reasons to like this stock going forward. china means they'll will shipping more. smith said on the call, by the way, fred smith said that holiday shipments expected to be up double digits. >> john, you just hit the key. china is the key to this story. i'm not a bull on china. if you are, that's the bull's case. >> pete, who made the more compelling argument in this case? >> i said beforehand i wasn't going toeith my brother. actual actually, i am. i tend to be a bull on china. i tend to be a bull on the global economy coming back in a big way. i think fedex is going to be the beneficiary. i think the icing on the cake is exactly what john put out there, which is the express. if they actually -- if that starts to come back better, i think the sky is the limit. >> we'll close the case on this one. there may be more optimism on housing, but one of the nation's most respected voices on that topic isn't ready to sound the

all clear. it's robert shiller. he joins us on the fast line. welcome back. >> my pleasure. >> there's a lot of optimism about housing. what are we missing? >> a lot of people seem to think if the market turns around, that means more of the same, meaning another big boom. i don't think that's in the cards. we might see home prices go up a little bit. you know, a little bit over inflation, maybe. not likely that we'll see a real boom. >> i mean, there's a difference between bottoming and booming. from what i see in the notes today, you're not even willing to give that we've bottomed yet. is that true? >> right. see, people pretend to know the future more than they do. there are trends, there are changes. as president obama just said, this was the worst economic crisis since the great depression. that was in his speech minutes ago. he's right. those kinds of events change people's thinking. one thing that's happening is people are moving more into renting. if you look at permits today,

they're up for multifamily housing, not single family housing. so the issue is what happens to someone who's hoping that the value of, you know, my detached single family home is going to go up? not so sure, not so obvious to me. you have to have a buyer. >> so tell me, then, sir, what you need to see. what's the one thing you need to see to make you change your tune? i mean, i've got traders on the desk who are recommending financial stocks almost every day. financial stocks are one of the best performing sectors of the year, largely on the fact that people believe that housing has turned the corner. >> what would make me convinced? >> yeah. >> well, i study these things. i do a survey of home buyers' attitudes. one thing i've asked about is, what do you think the long-run outlook for housing prices is? we don't see that improving. so i'd like to see people getting optimistic again. not that i expect to see this, but if you want another boom like that, people would have to

get excited in thinking that this is it. you know, i don't quite see it. it seems like the attitude is we're getting out of this mess, maybe. it's not. >> inventories down, prices up. that's a good sign, right? >> well, you know, i'll predict they're going to go up at least for a few more months. rp but home buyers are -- >> i just want the facts, sir. >> people are interested in what home prices are going to do in coming years. you're not going to flip it -- most people won't. you're going to have to ask, are people two or three years from now going to want to buy this house? i don't know. it's not obvious. we may still be stuck in a slow economy. it just might not be enough buyers to support home prices. >> all right. mr. shiller, we'll make that the last word. appreciate you coming on.

thanks for bearing with us with the great amount of breaking news we had today. final trades are next.